Britain had installed a 'puppet' Sultan  named Hamad bin Thuwaini to lead the region,  

a man that supported British interests there.  On August 25th, he bit the dust, and it was  

widely thought that he'd been poisoned by his  cousin, the man that stepped into his shoes. 

To say the least, the Brits were a little  bit peeved about this and the new man in  

charge knew that, so he ordered an armed  Royal Yacht to get ready for a fight. He  

also sent 3,000 soldiers and a few artillery  guns to the harbor to prepare for battle. 

In those days the British had quite the  formidable military, and before you could say,  

“Do you fancy a cuppa tea, mate”, two massive  war ships had destroyed the artillery,  

the palace, and had taken out about 500 soldiers. The war lasted a grand total of 38 minutes,  

making it the shortest war in history. The  countries you are going to hear about today  

might have fared just as badly as Zanzibar if  they got into a war with a military powerhouse,  

but we'll let you decide just how well they'd do. 10. El Salvador 

The South American nation has a surprisingly  large budget for being on this list,  

at around $165 million. That might sound  like a lot, but it's not so much when you  

consider the New York Police Department had a  budget of $5.6 billion that year. It also had  

55,304 people working for it. El Salvador  on the other hand only has 35,000 soldiers,  

and 10,000 of those guys and gals are reserves. The country has some fighter aircraft,  

bought from the USA around the time the  first Star Wars movie hit the theaters,  

and you could say the same about its  helicopters. As for artillery and  

armored cars, some of that hardware dates  back to the second world war. In the sea,  

El Salvador has only three patrol boats  so there's not much happening there. 

This is not a modern military by any means,  but you might ask if it needs to be. The  

country hasn't seen many conflicts of late.  Back in the 50s when the U.S. was talking  

about “Reds Under the Bed” and was paranoid that  communism was going to catch-on in many nations,  

it supplied El Salvador weapons to  thwart an uprising if one happened. 

In 1969, there was the Football War with  Honduras, and from 1979 to 1992 there was  

the Salvadoran Civil War. These days the military  spends most of its time fighting organized crime,  

drug trafficking outfits that no doubt have  a much bigger budget than the armed forces. 

Our next country was an ancient military  power house, but not so much today...

9. North Macedonia (formerly just Macedonia) Hang on a second, you're thinking, wasn't like  

one of the greatest military men in history  from this country. Surely it hasn't gone that  

downhill. Well, things have changed a lot since  Alexander the Great was taming wild horses on the  

plains and dreaming about his future empire. Right now, the country only has 8,000 active  

personnel and another 5,000 in the  reserves. That's not so many people,  

but hey, what are you gonna do with a  military budget of 108 million dollars. 

Still, it has a much better reputation than the  military we put at number ten. It might be small,  

but the North Macedonia military has seen  plenty of action in Afghanistan and Iraq.  

It has some armored vehicles and towed artillery,  but most of those have seen better days and  

wouldn't stand out in an episode of MASH. The country has no navy to speak of and while  

it has some helicopters and small pilot trainer  planes, it doesn't have any attack planes.

Next is another country with  a shockingly large budget,  

but still a weak military. 8. Namibia 

Namibia actually has quite a large budget  compared to the country we've just talked about,  

and that is a whopping $505 million. The country has a population of around 2.7  

million, but it also has a massive desert.  That's why it's known as one of the least  

densely populated countries in the world. Out of  those people, 10,000 of them work in the military. 

The country owns seven tanks, but they were made  back in the 1940s. Whether they work these days  

is questionable. In fact, just about all of  the country's land vehicles and artillery date  

back to a time when wars were watched on black  and white TV. Namibia might have a big budget,  

but it's weapons are very much from another era. For instance, it's said that the country has six  

fighter planes, but they're so old no  one's sure if they even work anymore.

Next is a country which might not have  a powerful military, but has faced lots  

of war in its recent past. 7. Bosnia and Herzegovina 

The budget for this military is $165 million, and  it has 10,500 personnel in total. The air force  

has zero planes, but it does have some helicopters  that were made in the former Soviet Union. 

It actually has 320 tanks and 332 armored  vehicles, so you might be wondering why it  

comes this low on the list. The answer is, again,  those tanks come from another era. Such as the  

American M46 Patton main battle tank, made in the  50s, and the Soviet T-55, made in the 40s and 50s. 

You can add to that some self-propelled  anti-aircraft artillery and some anti-aircraft  

artillery, but still, when you consider  that the country has no navy at all,  

we think it deserves the number seven spot.

Next is a country who's military is so weak,  it can't even seize power if it tries to. 

6. Gabon If you don't  

know where Gabon is, it's on the west coast of  Central Africa. Its military was pretty busy last  

year attempting a coup d'état. It didn't work. So, when we talk about personnel, no doubt quite  

a few of those guys are new. A lot of people in  the military who were pro-coup rans for the hills,  

were shot, or metaphorically  speaking went to the chopping block. 

It's actually a tiny military of just  5,000 people, and they are supported  

with a $83 million dollar budget. It has no tanks but does have 70  

armored vehicles. If you take a look at  those bad boys, you'll see that 16 of them  

are Panhard AMLs. These French made killing  machines were damn good, back when folks were  

blown away by the high-tech game Space Invaders. That's the reason it's so low on the list. Its  

land forces are very, very weak. But one thing  it does have is some nice aircraft. It has three  

Dassault Mirage 5s and six Dassault Mirage F1s.  They might have been built in the 60s and 70s,  

but they were state of the art back then. The Gabonese navy exists, but the few old  

fast attack crafts and patrol vessels  can't do much except scare pirates away.

Our next country probably as more powerful  militias than an official military… 

5. Somalia Back in the late 80s this military  

was on the verge of collapse and then in the 90s  it was dissolved. Hardly a professional force,  

its military was accused of murder, assault,  looting and all kinds of corruption. Back then  

a foreign diplomat wrote, “The inefficiency  of the Somali armed forces is legendary.” 

So, that's not a good look for Somalia.  The military did reinvent itself,  

but in a country that has seen so much internal  discord it was never easy making things right. 

The budget last year was just over $62 million,  and in total there were 20,000 active personnel.  

They were actually very active not long ago,  fighting insurgents with some help from the U.S.  

So, unlike some other countries  we've mentioned the Somali military  

has seen its fair share of action of late. If you look at what it's got in terms of hardware,  

you'll find there are quite a lot of main battle  tanks. Look a bit closer, and you'll see some of  

them such as the British Centurion date back  to the second world war. It's the same with  

the armored personnel carriers, they are more  museum pieces than formidable fighting machines. 

There used to be an air force, but that all  fell apart in the bad old days in the 90s.  

Now it's non-existent. The same goes for the navy. 4. Laos 

Thanks to the U.S, the country of Laos,  pronounced without the 's', can say it's  

the most bombed country in the world. To stop the  spread of communism, the U.S thought Laos needed  

a bit of hellfire. From 1964 to 1973 the  US dropped bombs every eight minutes,  

24 hours a day. Laos was obliterated, and it  was all done mostly in secret. A tenth of the  

population died, 98 percent of them civilians. Ok, the history class is over. Laos didn't try  

to build a bigger military after it was  partly destroyed, and the reason is there  

just wasn't any money. While it's more  built up today, it is still very poor. 

That's why the military budget  is just over $18 million. 

Laos actually has a lot of main battle tanks,  numbering close to 130. Hmm, you think,  

that's quite a lot. But again, you have to  understand that those things are antiques.  

They probably don't get used. The air force  consists of utility and transport helicopters  

and the navy only has patrol boats. Laos is not likely to get into a war,  

far from it, but like its neighbor Thailand  – a country now buying all kinds of expensive  

military hardware – the military is used  against its own people when they stand up  

against corruption. The army, no kidding,  has been accused of extrajudicial killing,  

torture, kidnapping, rape, attacks against  civilians, and starving minorities. 

That's another reason why Laos is so low on  this list. You can't call that good soldiering.

The next country gets a bad rap, but its  soldiers have done some honorable things. 

3. Sierra Leone Back in 2014, soldiers with the  

Sierra Leone military did a commendable job. They  helped protect quarantine zones during the Ebola  

Outbreak. That's not a nice disease to have, so  you'd think those soldiers were well compensated. 

They weren't. Reports about the military say that it's kind of a  

last stop for people. Back in the 90s some reports  said that many of the soldiers were drifters,  

drug addicts and criminals. In the 2000s,  privates were earning about 50 bucks a month and  

there was no running water in the barracks. The  bathroom was a hole in the ground in a mud hut. 

So, when you bear that in mind, what kind  of military do you think the country has.  

It might have a $75 million dollar budget, but  if you can't take care of your soldiers, you're  

likely not going to get much professionalism. The military has two T-72 main battle tanks but  

as they are a few decades old it is very doubtful  that they work. It also has 13 armored vehicles. 

As for airpower, Sierra Leone has seven  helicopters and no planes. Two of the  

helicopters are Mil Mi-24s, vehicles  the Soviets once called “flying tanks.” 

The Sierra Leone Navy consists of some very  old gun boats and patrol boats. They might  

not have done much fighting, but in 2007 British  trained naval officers interrupted a hold-up of  

another boat by some pirates. It turned out the  pirates were actually Guinean Naval officers.

Next up is a country that's hard-pressed  to keep its military from deserting. 

2. Liberia This is one small military, with only around  

2,100 active personnel. We say active, but reports  suggest that 300 of those people have defected. 

Over the last few decades this country has  seen all kinds of conflicts, regime changes,  

and a civil war, and that's not good  when you want to build a modern military.  

There isn't really anything  modern about Liberia's equipment,  

with the air force consisting of mainly old  transport planes. It has one helicopter,  

but that's getting on in years, too. Believe it or not, it has no land vehicles  

at all. In terms of infantry weapons, Liberia  has to rely on assault rifles and machine guns.  

There isn't really a navy, either, but  it does have a National Coast Guard.

Finally, our number one country- who unlike  the rest maybe needs no military at all! 

1. Bhutan If you look at the Global Peace Index, Bhutan  

is high up on the list. This wonderful country  located in the Eastern Himalayas wins all kinds  

of prizes for being peaceful, not being corrupt  and generally being a really cool place to live. 

That's likely why it doesn't spend  too much cash on its military.  

At $10 million or so a year, Bhutan's military  won't be buying any F-35s anytime soon. 

But it does have a military, and in it there  are 7,000 personnel. The country is protected  

by India, but that country has been trying to  help Bhutan improve its army and air force. 

There's not really that much happening,  though, and we can't find any sources  

that talk about Bhutan buying any new  weapons. The Royal Bhutan Army has had  

to shoot at people before, notably in  2003 when it took on 3,000 militants. 

In its arsenal of weapons, it has one  very old armored personnel carrier,  

mortars, and various kinds of rifles. If the army  uses other weapons, they are supplied by India. 

It doesn't have any power in the air, with the  air force only owning two Mil Mi-8 transport  

helicopters. This is certainly a very, very small  military and would be no match for the NYPD. 

Now you need to watch this, “The Insanely  Crazy Story of a Tiny Soldier”. Or have a  

look at this, “How A Soldier Single-Handedly  Liberated An Entire German Occupied City.”